Thursday, October 18, 2007

South Florida at Rutgers: College Football's Game of the Week, and it's tonight in prime time. Here is USF's chance to put on a show, on their own separate day, for the entire country in primetime. (They did against West Virginia, too, but that was a Friday night, not a Thursday.)

Now, this is the Bulls' toughest remaining game. If they win this – convincingly or otherwise – they will be on track to maintain their Top 2 BCS ranking through the end of the season. (It would give South Florida 3 quality wins compared to, say, Ohio State's 1.)

On the other hand, as USF's toughest remaining game, they could very well become the latest unbeaten team to lose. After all, the game is on the road, against a Rutgers team that knows a WEE bit about being a national sensation.

I had RU pegged as a Top 5 team in the preseason; they are actually better than they were a year ago, when they were simply an 11-2 Cinderella story. I'm sure they would like nothing more than to show this year's Cindy what a clock striking midnight sounds like.

Pick: Rutgers. (And you all know I'm on the USF bandwagon this season. I just think Rutgers is very tough, and the game is on the road. I'm sure BC fans and Oklahoma fans and LSU fans are the biggest Rutgers fans outside of New Jersey today.)

ALCS Game 5: The Indians can close out the Red Sox tonight. Can I ask a presumptuous question, and it's not supposed to be anti-Sox:

How is Boston not making the World Series any less of a complete dud of a season than the Yankees not making the World Series... except perhaps that the Red Sox had even MORE expectations of making the World Series than the Yankees did.

Short series, anything can happen in the playoffs, the Indians are really good, yada yada yada: The fact is, a loss tonight and the Red Sox have underachieved based on the expectations for the season, which were that anything less than an AL title is a bust.

(BTW, I just can't see the freak-out over Manny Ramirez's "Who cares?" quote. If ever there was a symbolic statement of the cliche'd "Manny being Manny," this was it.)

UPDATE: This Danielle Peck/Josh Beckett "God Bless America" story is amazing. I know it's coincidence, but -- as gamesmanship goes -- this has to be up there with the best of them.

Yankees have no decision on Torre (yet): OK... not much to say about that. Are they obligated to have an answer by yesterday? Hardly.

Byron Leftwich, a DS.com favorite, will get the start this weekend for the Falcons. If only he was wearing his old jersey No. 7...

Pats RB Sammy Morris out for up to 4 weeks (or more): He was one of the more pleasant surprises of the season, particularly if you were savvy enough to pick him up for your fantasy roster at the end of preseason, when word started circulating that, at the very least, Morris would get Maroney's goal-line carries. (But now where does that leave us?)

Speaking of fantasy: So who is so hard up for a wide receiver that they're going to pick up newly reinstated Koren Robinson?

OK, so is OhioState overrated or not? I think they are. Judging by the response I got Monday from OhioState fans, some think they aren't. Pete Thamel lays out both sides, but at least is a mainstream media writer who acknowledges that the debate exists.

Ron Zook gets a contract extension: Of course he does! When you take a school with 6-6 aspirations and deliver, you get an extension pretty quickly (that, and he's a Top 10 recruiter, even if the program ain't.) Now, obviously, he'll suffer the "Contract Extension Jinx" this weekend for the Illini's home game in primetime against Michigan.

Celtics' "Big Three" make debut in Boston: Newcomers KG (13 and 8) and Ray Allen (13 points) undoubtedly amped up the expectations even further. So: What SHOULD those expectations be? NBA title? East title? East finalist? Making the playoffs? Is anything less than a trip to the NBA Finals a total disappointment? (NBA Preview coming next week, by the way.)

71 comments:

If you're Joe Torre, do you really WANT to come back, after the Steinbrenners leave you flapping in the wind for a week? When word comes down, "OK, we've decided you can stay", is that really an option anymore?

Re: Byron Leftwich - what other team/number combination has more downside than Falcons' #7? Anyone?? Buffalo Bill's #32 (Go, OJ, Go!)is all that comes to mind in that category.

What Manny said is a great attitude to have basically saying that there is no pressure if we win great if we lose it not like we are dead. It is a way to try and stay loose in a pressure situation and being loose and carefree is what helped the Red Sox in '04. They just didn't care they went out and if they won great if not oh well.

Now of course the Pink Hat Frauds (lead by Dennis and Callhan on WEEI)are going to say Manny is a jerk, he should not say that, my world is over if the Red Sox lose. That what the Red Sox due is life and death to me.

Everyone gets on Manny. Piling on if you ask me. So what, the guy has fun doing his job. He is a grown man playing a children's game and he is one of the few players in the MLB that seem to realize it. He doesn't get too upset when he makes a mistake and he had fun when he does well.

He doesn't take the game to be life or death, he knows its just a game.

Athletes get hammered by the media for comparing the game to war (Kellen Winslow) but when Manny, who actually said, "It's not like this is war" he gets killed for not caring.

What would you have like for Manny to say?

If we lose this game, I'm going to go into deep depression, kick my neighbor's dog, beat my wife, binge drink? He does his job better than almost anyone else who has the same job as he does. He takes it seriously, but has fun and has perspective. Kill him for that if you want, but this is one of the few times I can say that Manny "gets it"

Gary I completely agree with what you said but of course you know the guys on WEEI need a story line especially if the Red Sox lose so they will continue with there bash Manny and JD story all through the winter

I'm surprised you didn't talk about Jimmy Kimmel getting baned from Monday Night Football and possibly ESPN after his in-booth appearance during the Giants-Falcons game. I thought he was hilarious. The producers thought he went over the line

If Francona has the balls, he needs to sit J.D Drew tonight, play Ellsbury and have him hit lead off. Move Pedroia down to the 6th or 7th spot. Also, I believe Beckett wins tonight. If so, in game 6 if Schilling starts to struggle, you bring in Lester or Wakefield immediately. None of this Delcarmen or Gagne bullcrap. If they make it to game 7 and Beckett can go, then pitch him. Otherwise, start Dice-K and have Lester or Wakefield (whichever didnt pitch in game 6) be the immediate reliever if Dice-K gets into trouble. How hard of a concept is that, TITO?

Well, my goal was to go on record as saying that Rutgers will put an end to this South Florida chicanery, and next week Virginia Tech will free us from the world in which BC is in the CFB top 5. Surprises and worries me that Dan has already made the same call on USF, but I'm still taking Rutgers.

re: Red SoxI'd say its a bust, considering they are Yankees Redux. They got Dice-K and expected him to be a Game 1 or 2 Series starter.

re: MannyI'd say Manny has his priorities straight. He's having fun playing a game. Win or lose, he's had fun. Isn't that how we all wish things were? lol Or maybe its that fans live and die by sports way too much.

re: Ohio StateI don't know that overrated is the right term. I don't think you can label a team in that way until after a season is over.I am in the camp that thinks the Florida game last year was not indicative of how good Ohio State was. I do think their defense is Top 2 in the country.But I also think they are relatively untested. Will they be tested soon? I think so. The rage now is to go for 1-loss teams over undefeated teams because if a team is undefeated, then that team HAS to be playing weak opponents, and is, therefore, a weak team as well.Think about it, Dan. You're stuck on the big names. You don't care if LSU, Florida, Oklahoma, USC, or West Virginia have one or two losses. They were your preseason picks, so you'll believe they are the 'best' teams regardless of their record. Ohio State was supposed to be rebuilding (um, which is kinda odd..as OSU has been a reloading program, not rebuilding program, for years) so they cannot be taken as seriously no matter what.

so everyone says this is the week South Florida loses, so obviously they're going to win. why? because everyone said Oklahoma would beat Colorado, everyone said USC would beat Stanford, everyone said LSU would beat Kentucky. you know who doesn't know anything about CFB this season...everyone

Mark my words: the Illini will finish the season no better than 7-5, and maybe as bad as 6-6. They are simply not as good as people think. Plus they're coached by Zook - getting an extension just means its time for the swoon.

You know, the media and a lot of fans think he's out there and that maybe he's not the sharpest tool in the shed.

After this, I think he just might be way ahead of the curve. This is a GAME, and GAMES are supposed to be fun.

I'm sure that he'd like to win the game and keep going, but it's not the end of the world (wait 'til next year). Big props to Manny and here's secretly hoping that some Boston sports windbag's head explodes on the air.

Clinton I can almost guarantee that one of the guys on WEEI probably either Callahan or Mike Adams will have there head explode over this and rip Manny from here until the day he retires, oh wait they already do that

The only number I can think of in comparison to Oj's or vick's would be rae carruth's for the panthers.

I have to agree with dan in thinking that Rutgers is the toughest opponent left for USF. Cincy is good as well but I think with this being a breakout season for them they are not ready to handle the pressure that comes with being a frontrunner. At least USF has been notching big wins the last few years. I think America as a whole needs to be roting for USf to win just so it will shake up the way we look at how teams are ranked.

As a HUGE Boston sports fan, probably bigger than most, I think what Manny said is dead-on. After all, it is just a freakin childrens game, and it's that attitude that you really need if you honestly want to win.The '04 Sox turned their playoff fortunes around the minute they said to themselves; "Awwwww f@#* it! Let's just go out and have fun playing some ball!"BTW, as long as he's hitting .460 is the playoffs, Manny can say whatever he wants. I find it ironic that the one guy on the Sox who "doesn't care" is also the only guy who is absolutely destroying anyone and everyone who tried to pitch to him.I only wish Drew, Crisp, Lugo, et all cared so little.

Say Clinton, I think you are onto some regarding Manny, I believe he really is much smarter than all of us.

Example;I think Manny raised his hands after his meaningless homerun on purpose. Why? Because maybe the Indians would throw at somebody, and maybe that just might wake the rest of the friggin Sox up who have been sleepwalking for 3 days (no disrespect to the Indians, who've been admirably kicking our a**)

Unfortunately for Manny and the Sox, the Indians didn't take the bait.

I basically agree with everyone else about Manny. Fans who treat it like the end of the world have some major issues.

Also I don't think the the season will be completely lost if they don't win the WS. They can look back and say they won the AL east for the first time in a decade. And Matsuzaka still win 15 games this year, that's not too shabby.

Something else that I had wanted to mention: The WWL has an article in the news section about Kevin Everett taking steps with the help of a walker. What an absolutely wonderful story to read. Definitely puts Manny's comments into context.

Bmajoras, Good point, but Dice-K is going to win probably close to 100 games over the course of his contract and probably at least 1 Cy Young. People forget, Beckett sucked, but won 15 games, his first with the Sox as well. And Dice-K has just a touch more to adjust to than Beckett did. Language, food, culture, different baseball...I could go on, but you get the point.

I have a question for the baseball rule experts here. I know very little about what constitutes a balk, but it would seem to me that Byrd's double wind-up would be. Again, I know very little about the balk rules.

Theoretically the double pump isn't used with runners on not because it would be a balk (advantage for the pitcher), but because it would give an advantage to the runner.

Once he goes into the wind up he can't go back to the bases and must pitch to the plate. If he ever did that with a runner on the guy would steal a base so easily that there would be zero chance to throw him out.

Stealing home would actually become not only possible but somewhat easy.

Honestly, I think the teams that are more concerned about tonight's football game than LSU and Florida are Miami and Florida State.

Those two perennial powers are slipping. If you were a top 5 star recruit from the state of Florida right now, where would you want to go? USF is new and exciting and ranked higher and competing for a national championship.

By the same token, Syracuse has to hope that Rutgers and UConn totally tank. More important than competing on the field is competing for recruits in the same region.

Great teams don't always stay great. SMU never recovered from their death penalty. Alabama, Clemson and Pittsburgh were two of the top programs 20 years ago. Look at Notre Dame now. Some teams are a flash in the pan such as Kansas State and Northwestern where we thought they may join the elite and fell back down again.

I can see where either Miami or Florida State fall out of the elite status for a period of time.

Hey Geoff, It really isn't re Dice K - Cy Young at some point in the next 5 years. He's got filthy filthy stuff. Schilling had a talking with Dice after game 3 and then told the press that Dice-K can fix all his problems right now.He simply needs to locate his fastball. Everything else falls into place from there. People forget too that Dice is very young. Just compare Becket's 06 stats to Dice K's 07 stats. They are remarkably similar.

He is 27 years old and has pro experience in Japan. That isn't "very young". By now he shouldn't still be having to learn how to locate his fastball. He got pretty battered around this year and had a high ERA. I am pretty sure he is what he is. A 14-15 game winner on a good team that can get him runs.

False. All pitchers lose location of their fastball at some point. It has nothing to do with your age. Dice-K's other stuff is crazy. The fact that he throws 7 pitches well is crazy. He just needs time to adjust to Boston. There was once this other guy who had the same problem for his first season in Boston. What was his name? 15 wins but a high ERA...

Josh Beckett? Yeah, I think he's OK now.

Dice-K has big game experience. He did win a Japan Series as well as a high school title and was MVP of the World Baseball Classic that Japan won 2 years ago.

Oh, and did you see that Gyro that he threw to Sizemore last time? I don't care if he doesn't have a ton of confidence in it. Clearly Tek did to ask for it on a 3-1 count with 2 runners on. He needs to throw that more.

"When I hear that I say, that's why Manny Ramirez is the kind of hitter that he is. There is a certain relaxation about Manny," Lucchino said. "Calmness, yes, [he] essentially has it at all times. And when he's got a bat in his hand he uses it effectively because of that focus. He's just not tight. He was trying to say 'you know, let's don't panic. We're going out and play this game. We're going to have fun. And we approach this game the way we approach other games, and let's don't overreact. Let's don't panic. Let's just be natural, be ourselves. And that's how I took it. I know that certain words there are going to be jumped on, and people are going to suggest other things, but I think what you see in that is the essential Manny Ramirez, and one reason why for seven consecutive years we've seen an exceptional offensive players."

Seriously? Because Beckett had a good season it means Dice-K is going to do exactly the same thing? Is this along the same lines as saying that because Cleveland had trouble with Boston and New York in the regular season that they had no chance in the playoffs? Because what happened in the past is clearly an indicator of what is going to happen in the future.

Now I'm confused. How is Rutgers a "quality win"? They lost to a middle of the pack ACC team. If that's the standard, then BC also has a couple quality wins and is about to pick up a bunch more.

Honestly my head is spinning. The ACC is weak but losing to Maryland makes Rutgers strong? Honestly, that wasn't even a close game. Rutgers is not BCS ranked. Rutgers is the eight in "also getting votes" for the AP poll. They are #38 in the Sagarin ratings.

I don't disagree that Rutgers probably wins, but it's not a quality win. It's a game that any team who has a shot at the national title should win handily.

Teams have been known to go to extraordinary lengths to get an edge. But the Cleveland Indians swear Thursday night's choice of pre-game singer is not a piece of gamesmanship.

Danielle Peck, a country music singer who also happened to date Red Sox ace pitcher Josh Beckett, will sing the national anthem and "God Bless America" at tonight's Game 5 in Cleveland. Beckett is scheduled to start the game for Boston.

Taylor Swift was supposed to be the Game 5 vocalist, but when she couldn't attend, DiBiasio said a country music booker recommended the up-and-coming Peck. She is from Coshocton and her single "I Don't" is a hit.

"She's from Ohio. Her entire family are Indians fans. We did not know anything about her connections to Beckett. The next day, we find out the rest of the story," said DiBiasio of Peck. "How are we supposed to know who Josh Beckett dates?"

With a victory tonight, the Indians would close out the Red Sox and clinch their first spot in the World Series since 1997.

That's so awesome. I wouldn't want to sit through a year of constant turmoil either. You know every week would be "If he doesn't win this series he will be fired." "If we get swept at this away series with the Angels he will be fired."

I just picture all the Yankees brass sitting there as if they are doing Torre a favor by bringing him back, and he says "no thanks," while they go into shock.

espn.com currently has the Torre story as the big lead item, with USF-Rutgers (a live game with live scoring and general liveliness) relegated to the sidebar and Cleveland-Boston a a text-only link lower on the page.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.